AdBlocker Detected!

We know, advertisements are annoying and slow down the internet. Unfortunately, this is how we pay the bills and our authors.
We would love for you to enjoy our content, we've worked hard on providing it. Please whitelist our site in your adblocker, refresh the page, and enjoy!

How To Get Roadside Assistance On The Cheap For Your GM Vehicle

Sponsored Links

If your GM vehicle is within the powertrain limited warranty period, then you’re covered by GM’s 24-hour Roadside Assistance Program. But what happens when your vehicle is outside the powertrain warranty period and you (or your family members) get stuck in the middle of nowhere thanks to breaking down, getting a flat or running out of gas? Then they’re left to their own devices, and those can become rather expensive. But there is an exception.

That exception is OnStar. As we recently discovered, subscribing to any paid OnStar plan instantly gets your vehicle Roadside Assistance, no matter the age or odometer reading of your vehicle. That’s right, your car could have 300,000 miles on the clock, putting it well outside the Powertrain limited warranty period. But the OnStar trick overrides that limitation.

Roadside Assistance Services

Roadside Assistance includes the following services:

Emergency Towing (from a public road or highway to nearest Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick or GMC dealer, depending on the make of your vehicle)

Lockout Service (keys locked inside vehicle)

Flat Tire Changes (service to change a flat tire with the spare tire, if equipped)

Fuel Delivery (enough fuel for vehicle to get to the nearest service station)

Jump-Starts (service to jumpstart a dead battery)

Signing up for any paid OnStar plan and activating in your car it is all you need to do. Currently, the least expensive paid OnStar subscription is the Protection plan that is priced at $19.99 per month of $199.90 per year and includes the following:

Namby pamby, but not a bad idea for unreliable GM vehicles to return the favor and bail out their owners. Does it come with a box of Kleenex? I don’t need it, my Tacoma won’t break down, I know where I am going, and people don’t steal cars around here.

1. You get a flat on your trusty Tacoma, reach for the spare only to realize that it has some damage to it and that you can’t use it (because who checks those anyway)… all while it’s raining a perfect storm outside.

2. The accelerator pedal on your trusty Taco gets stuck, you shift to neutral and pull off the road… but your engine runs itself to the ground due to being floored.

3. You get into an accident and can’t get to your phone when it flies out the window post impact (or you are in so much pain that you can’t even stomach reaching for it). You’d be screwed in the Tacoma that has technology from the Flinstones era… while the Colorado will be automatically phoning OnStar SOS services hands free and – upon your request – sending paramedics to your exact coordinates, having informed them of the damage to the car (such as if any airbags were deployed, and if so – on what side of the vehicle).

To be clear: I don’t wish any of these things on to anyone… but let’s hear you defend how utterly technologically-outdated your trusty and boring Taco is.

I really want to make sure I never run out of gas outside the powertrain warranty. We have a big road trip coming up to California and I want to make sure that we can get roadside assistance in case we need it. I’ll have to make sure that I get a warranty that will keep us protected.

Recently, my GMC Yukon XL Denali broke down. As I pulled off the road to a gas station, there was a towing station next door. They had availability to provide towing of my vehicle and myself with three children in tow to the nearest dealership. I was stranded in a very small town in the Arizona dessert 115 degrees outside. I was grateful that my car broke down while driving through that town and not 15 or 20 minutes before where there was nothing but dessert as far as the eye could see. The dealership found two things wrong with my vehicle. First, was a cylinder fuel injector that was no longer covered under warranty (the second one we have replaced on this vehicle…the first being at 16,000 miles….ridiculous.) and the second was a broken valve spring that was covered under warranty. We have towing coverage through 100,000 miles. I believe that GMC should reimburse me to cover the towing amount but I was told that they do not cover towing that is arranged by customers. I understand that they probably contract with certain companies at a lower rate, but at the very least, I should be reimbursed the negotiated contract price. My vehicle broke down due to a part under warranty, not excessive wear and tear or failure to maintain. My vehicle was covered for road side assistance. Thoughts or suggestions?